Sermon on Colossians 4:2-4:18
by Joshua Skeat, from February 21, 2010
As we come to the end of our series from the book of Colossians, we hear Paul’s final greetings to the churches in Colossae and Laodicea. Within these greetings we find Paul’s final instructions, his last take home points. We find two imperatives that will help us to apply the truth that Paul has preached earlier in his letter:
Two members of our Connections community are embarking on some travels in the next little while. Sarah, a Fusion worker, and Anna, one of our youth are going to be heading on a pilgrimage to Uluru.
They are pictured here with some of the homemade beading that Anna has made and is selling to raise money for the trip.
Sarah has already begun her travels – she recently headed off to Ghana. She writes :
Fusion has established work in a smaller mostly Muslim rural village in the northern part of Ghana. As part of a continuing strategy to train and build capacity of the local people to reach out to and transform their own communities, Fusion is running a week long Foundations course in March. What is exciting this time is that local people, also some coming across from Nigeria will be taking some of the units as trainee trainers. Fusion owns a small guest house and training rooms where a significant joint program meant that two large water towers were built to provide the local towns people clean and reliable water.
I have been asked to be one of the training team, there will only be 4 of us, and we are expecting about 50 participants. Foundations is a great chance for local young people to become leaders in their community and they get to know God better, develop skills to communicate and work together better, and put themselves aside as God ask them to love and care for their Muslim brothers and sisters. We will run community building festivals to invite the community together to enjoy each others’ company and get to know God.
Please be praying for Sarah and for the work of Fusion in Ghana. Please pray for both Anna and Sarah as they prepare for the Uluru pilgrimage. If you would like to support Anna please contact us.
Sermon on Colossians 3:18-4:1
by Will Briggs, from February 14, 2010
Paul is applying the gospel to the community of believers to the church in Colossae urging them to live according to their new identity in Christ. Here that application is specifically for the household – husband-wife, parents-child, masters-servants.
The husband-wife relationship is based on the framework of an equal-but-different harmony of voices. In this framework the exhortation to submission is a life-giving exhortation matched by the exhortation to self-sacrificial love by the husbands. Any negative or misogynistic use of this verse is a misuse.
The framework of obedience for children is to teach them how to be child-like towards God in obedience as adults.
The slave-master application is less relevant but the principle of doing whatever you do as to the Lord applies in a work lives.
The most recent of our Connections Summer Evening Series is a night concentrating on relationships of the romantic and intimate sort. We follow that up on February 28th with an evening looking at relationships in general: being part of a family, a community; being a friend or a mate.
God does not just save persons but builds communities – and in particular the church as a renewed, transformed community. Our task is to invest in that community and to handle well the challenges put before us by having the guts to interact with one another. Community is hard, but it is a blessing and a joy.
The night will being at 7:30pm on Feburary 28th at CamRise Uniting Church in Wragg St
A flyer can be downloaded: here
Sermon on Colossians 3:1-3:17
by David Owens, from February 7, 2010
Underpants First, Then Trousers
Sermon on Colossians 2:6-2:23
by Will Briggs, from January 31, 2010
Paul continues his exhortation to the church in Colossae to continue to live in Jesus, founded and built in him.
This means, in particular, defending themselves against a religious attitude hollow philosophy and legalistic traditions.
This religiosity still exists today in a more secular guise and is part of the Western culture which we are to resist.
We rest not on our own ability but on faith in Jesus – that is not religion, but a life of trust.
Connections Anglican Church in Somerset, on the North West Coast of Tasmania. Part of the Anglican Parish of Burnie.
